What are the most important factors when choosing espresso coffees to sell in your cafe?
Angled towards the guest/SOE/secondary coffee that is served alongside your main offering/blend (if you offer one) but could be easily applied to your main offering/blend. I feel everyone makes these decisions on a weekly basis for it to be a topic worthy of fleshing out, or even help baristas make their choices with greater thought and clarity.
Below are some influences that sprang to mind.
What are the top 5 that influence you? Anything else for the list?
- Flavour as espresso
- Flavour as flat white/latte/cappuccino
- Supplier’s reputation/brand/popularity
- Customers request
- Country of origin
- Age of green, seasonality of coffee
- Need for a diverse offering. To be different to the other coffees on my list
- Price
- Roast degree
- Information about the coffee included in printed form
- FT, Org, RFA certifications
- Cup of Excellence, Best of [insert origin] awards
- Exclusivity of supply in my suburb/strip
- Carbon footprint of packaging/delivery method
- Level of technical support from supplier
- Lead time on usage. Roasted to order?
- Try before you buy. Samples
- How nice the delivery driver is
- Direct trade relationship between roaster and producer